In Armenia, four types of ancient hieroglyphic writing are known: Etsagirs (goat writing, 10th – 5th millennium BC), Metsamor hieroglyphs (19th century BC), hieroglyphs from Matenadaran manuscripts (first half of the 2nd millennium BC and earlier), and Hyksos hieroglyphs (17th century BC). Most of the Hyksos alphabet signs are found among Armenian rock carvings, which are akin to stone tablets (comparable to the stone tablets of Yahweh).
Hieroglyphic writing systems served as the basis for creating the first alphabetic writing (the Hyksos alphabet). Hieroglyphic writings in their original form were first discovered in Armenia at Metsamor in 1963. These are pictograms carved on the smooth surface of tuff, remarkably similar to those preserved in medieval Armenian manuscripts.
The Armenian hieroglyphic system shares several features with the Hittite and Egyptian systems but stands as an independent system. Like Egyptian hieroglyphs, it includes the cartouche line—an oval surrounding the names of gods and kings. However, at Metsamor, the cartouche appears in both oval and rectangular forms. Metsamor hieroglyphs were deciphered by comparing them with hieroglyphs from medieval Armenian manuscripts, where the meanings of the signs were preserved.
The Armenian cuneiform code was similar to the cuneiform of the Assyro-Babylonians but had several distinctive features, the most important being the principle of alphabeticity: a group of cuneiform signs in Armenian more often expressed a single sound rather than a syllable. Cuneiform was first discovered in Armenia in 1862, and since then, several hundred inscriptions have been found. The texts are mainly carved on basalt or tuff monoliths in neat lines or stamped on copper and bronze shields, helmets, and vessels.
In 1959, S. Ayvazyan restored the true pronunciation of Armenian cuneiform signs using phonetic correspondences and showed that the entire root composition of cuneiform texts has Indo-European origins and that they are all written in the language of archaic Grabar. Investigating the origin of letter signs of ancient alphabets, S. Babayan identified the common principles of their creation. The common and fundamental aspect for the Armenian, ancient Greek, and ancient Indian (Brahmi) alphabets is the worldview aspect.
The world’s first alphabet was created through the synthesis and analysis of ancient concepts of the soul and the system of interconnection between the macrocosm and microcosm. It reflects the role and place of humans in the cosmos. S. Babayan demonstrated that the Hyksos alphabet (ancient Sinai script) was formed from 12 zodiac signs, sensory signs (taste – mouth, touch – palm, hearing – wave, sight – eye), and three signs symbolizing eternal divine concepts—Mind, Breath, Time.
The ancient Greek and ancient Indian (Brahmi) alphabets incorporated primary elements instead of zodiac signs, while the modern Armenian alphabet includes generalized epistemological concepts—categories (instead of sensations). All this reflects the worldview of the eras that produced them. The last three signs—Mind, Breath, Time—represent the foundation upon which all existence rests.
Ancient thinkers attributed special significance to breath, considering it one of the essential properties of the living soul. Many cultures believed that the soul is eternal and that without breath, there is no life (comparable to the system of yoga breathing exercises, in Armenian, the word for soul (Ñá·Ç) is related to yoga). The symbols for angle and seeds represent thinking and growth. According to ancient philosophy, the inner world of a person (microcosm) is a mirror reflection of the outer world (macrocosm), and there is a connection between them.
In the Hyksos alphabet, this connection is evident: the signs of the zodiac (macrocosm), the signs of sensations, thinking, and growth (microcosm) in the coordinate system of “mind, breath, time.” It is no coincidence that the ancients linked music with the cosmic system. According to S. Babayan, the alphabet represents a system for modeling the soul (its model). The main properties of the soul, as ancient philosophers believed, were movement, sensation, thinking, and growth.
Movement is characterized by the signs of the zodiac. The other signs represent sensation, thinking, and growth. The Hyksos reformed the Egyptian calendar system during their rule. One rotation of the outer circle gives a year, one rotation of the inner circle gives a week. The celestial bodies ruled over the days of the week. They also corresponded to various metals known to the ancients.
The week began with the day of the Moon and ended with the day of the Sun. The number 3, like the head of a bull, symbolically represents the Moon (N. Hentze). In the mythology of ancient peoples, thinking was associated with the Moon, and time with the Sun. The Hyksos alphabet begins with the sign of the bull (symbol of the Moon) and ends with the cross (symbol of the Sun among the ancient Armenians), i.e., these two signs symbolize the pair (unity) of opposites – night and day (as well as good and evil, fire and water, etc.).
If the signs are written from right to left, the alphabet begins with the cross (symbol of the Sun) and ends with the sign of the bull (symbol of the Moon). S. Babayan divides the alphabet signs into triplets, which, in his opinion, symbolize the days of the week (and accordingly reflect the overall properties of celestial bodies). Seven triplets (sides) represent the model of the week. Rotating, they form a month (one zodiac sign), then the second, and so on until the full calendar circle.
All this continuously affects growth, sensation, and thinking (taking into account mind, breath, and time). The biblical words “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…” are reinterpreted, gaining concreteness in time and space. V. Ivanov notes that the ancients created not only material elements; for them, the “word” was created, and further “creation was accompanied and guided by the word, expressing a semblance of divine order to comprehend the created elements.”
According to the ancients, words came from the heart (soul, in everyday use, we still say “a word from the heart, soul, or from the bottom of the heart, with all one’s heart”), therefore, sounds, with the help of symbols (letters) representing them, also represent models of the soul, cosmos (cf. the works of N. Aroyan on the deciphering of ancient Armenian khazes). Plato once expressed the idea of the close intertwining of astronomy with music. “Perhaps, as our eyes are directed to astronomy, so our ears are directed to the movement of harmonious sounds: these two sciences are like sisters.” Aristotle notes: “Why does everyone rejoice in rhythm, singing, and generally in harmonious sounds? Because we naturally rejoice in movements corresponding to nature.” Considering the above, it can be added that the three sciences – astronomy, writing, and music – are like sisters.
M. Khorenatsi, in his account of the activities and campaigns of the glorious and mighty ancestor Aram, indicates that he “instructed the inhabitants of the country (Proto-Armenia) to learn the Armenian speech and language.” The residence (dastakert) built and named after Aram’s governor Mshak was called Caesarea. The native inhabitants of this country, unable to pronounce it correctly, called the residence “Majak” instead of Mshak. Therefore, the sounds of speech they used at that time were insufficient to accurately express the sounds pronounced in Armenian speech.
M. Khorenatsi further writes in the section “On Daniel’s Writing” that there lived a certain Bishop Daniel in Mesopotamia, who had writings (letters inscribed in ancient times, arranged in the order of the Greek alphabet). Mesrop Mashtots and Saint Sahak the Great came to the conclusion that “this writing, with its letters received as a gift, was insufficient to accurately express the sounds pronounced in Armenian speech.” They were so ancient that they lagged behind in their development from speech. The letters, arranged in the order of the Greek alphabet and inscribed in ancient times, could have been the source of the Greek or ancient Sinai alphabet.
Then Mesrop went to Edessa to Plato (a pagan, the head of the archive). The latter had knowledge of Armenian (through his former teacher Epiphanius, who, having taken the works of the sages from the Edessa archive and retired, converted to Christianity). Plato, recognizing his impotence, turned to Mashtots. “Find him, and your desire will be fulfilled.” Mashtots found Khropanos, a disciple of the deceased Epiphanius, but also achieved nothing. Then he turned to prayers. “And he saw not a night dream nor a vision in reality, but in his beating heart, the right hand revealed to the eyes of the soul, writing on the stone. The stone, like snow, retained the traces of the inscriptions.” And it not only seemed to him, but in all details, it was imprinted in Mesrop’s mind, as if in some vessel. And, rising from prayers, he created the letters, giving them the final form together with Khropanos, by adjusting the Armenian signs in accordance with the complexity of the Greek alphabet.
“And when (God) ceased speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him two tablets of testimony, stone tablets, on which was written by the finger of God” (Exodus 20:1-18, 31:18). “And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of testimony (stone) in his hand, on which was written on both sides; on one side and on the other side it was written; the tablets were the work of God, and the writing engraved on the tablets was the writing of God” (Exodus 32:1-7, 15-19). When Moses saw the people worshiping the idol of the calf and dancing, he became angry and threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. “And the Lord said to Moses: Hew for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones (and come up to Me on the mountain) and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke; and be ready in the morning…” (Exodus 34:1-8, 28-32). Does this description not suggest that Moses, having ascended the mountain, used rock carvings drawn by the Lord?
M. Khorenatsi’s account is an artistic description of the structure and method of the creative process of the inventor, who not only managed to discover and recreate the oldest alphabet (the worldview system of the ancients) but also improved it considering the level of speech development, adding new signs, including vowels. Following the biblical story of Moses, he climbs the mountain and supplements the ancient writings, giving them the final form in accordance with the complexity of the Greek alphabet (actually the Hyksos alphabet, see The Invention of the Languages by M. Khorenatsi & N. Marr, The Invention of the Alphabet).
Moses led the people to Palestine when the Hyksos and their cultural monuments were mostly destroyed. The tablets were “given” on the mountain, where the writings of the Hyksos were preserved in the form of ideograms. Moses’ merit lies in the fact that he managed to restore the oldest writings—the Hyksos alphabet, carrying out a reform to make the alphabet acceptable for the culture of the Semitic peoples. The alphabet was named the ancient Sinai alphabet.
S. Babayan managed to reveal the principle of the construction of Mesrop’s letters, which is that all 36 letters are formed by combining two dissimilar elements, where the first type (main) belongs to one of eight homogeneous groups symbolizing Aristotle’s philosophical categories, and the second type (secondary) to a group symbolizing philosophical elements: earth, water, air, fire, and ether. The quantitative ratios between the homogeneous groups of the main elements are 1:2:3:4:5:6:7:8, and between the secondary elements are the proportions written about by the famous Plato. Mashtots could not take an arbitrary number of elements, as in his era, the concept of beauty and harmony, which are associated with symmetry and proportion, prevailed (cf. with the method of decoding khazes proposed by N. Aroyan).
A similar model is found in the ancient Greek and ancient Indian alphabets, only the concept in the latter corresponds to ancient Indian philosophy. The Hyksos worldview served as the basis for creating the world’s first alphabet. Based on it as a prototype, the Phoenician, ancient Sinai, and Greek alphabets were created. The Hyksos alphabet was used by the inhabitants of Proto-Armenia to teach the Armenian speech and language to the inhabitants of other countries. With the destruction of the Hyksos dominion and culture, the writings were destroyed.
Artatsolum
The works of S. Ayvazyan and S. Babayan were used.
